The Hebrew Roots Movement

A loose network of teachers, ministries and home fellowships who read the Bible as a Hebrew book and, in most cases, keep the seventh-day Sabbath and the feasts. They do not agree on whether the Torah binds Gentiles.

119 Ministries, Faith Statement

119 Ministries, About Us

119 Ministries, History of 119

119 Ministries, video "Is the Torah for Gentiles, Too?" (July 7, 2023), page description

119 Ministries, "The Christmas Question" documentary page

119 Ministries, video "The Hebrew Root of Worship," page description

119 Ministries, article "The Great Commission - What Does It Really Mean?"

119 Ministries, video "How to Be Saved," page description

119 Ministries, Fellowship Finder

119 Ministries, video "Colossians 2:16-17: Shadow vs. Reality? (Responding to Andrew Farley)" (October 23, 2026), page description

Torah Class (Tom Bradford, Seed of Abraham Ministries), Our Beliefs

Torah Class, About Us

Torah Class, home page

Torah Class, Matthew 26, lesson 91 (Tom Bradford)

A Rood Awakening! International (Michael Rood), About, with its Statement of Faith

A Rood Awakening!, Pesach - Passover

A Rood Awakening!, The Shabbat

A Rood Awakening!, Aviv Fellowships: Starting a Fellowship

A Rood Awakening!, Tzvi ben Daniel, "Mikveh: Israel's Living Hope" (April 14, 2026)

Hebrew Roots (Dean and Susan Wheelock), About

Dean and Susan Wheelock, Gentiles and the Law, Vol. I: Introduction (PDF)

Angus and Batya Wootten, "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! The Messianic Israel Alliance is NOT a Two House Organization!" (newsletter, undated)

First Fruits of Zion (Messianic Jewish), Convictions: What We Believe

First Fruits of Zion, D. Thomas Lancaster, "Does FFOZ Teach Gentiles to Observe the Torah?"

First Fruits of Zion, "Under the Water" (on immersion)

Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, Statement of Faith

International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues, Steering Committee, "One Law, Two Sticks: A Critical Look at the Hebrew Roots Movement" (January 15, 2014)

Kay Silberling, Daniel Juster and David Sedaca, "The Ephraimite Error" (position paper submitted to the International Messianic Jewish Alliance)

Craig A. Dunning, "Hebrew Roots Movement," Watchman Fellowship Profile (2014)

David Wilber, "What Is the Hebrew Roots Movement? (And Why I Don't Identify With It)"

Wikipedia, Hebrew Roots (last resort: facts only, never their own words)

The movement grew in the late twentieth century out of several older streams: Sabbath-keeping and Sacred Name groups, the Worldwide Church of God of Herbert W. Armstrong, and the Messianic Jewish movement. It took its present shape in the 1980s and 1990s. Its history is told differently depending on who tells it. The Messianic Jewish bodies that criticize it trace it back to Armstrong. Its own ministries mostly do not tell this history at all, and at least one Two House writer rejects Armstrong by name.

The Sacred Name strain

The IAMCS paper says the Sacred Name movement "arose particularly during the 1930's," largely through Clarence Orvil Dodd, an elder in the Church of God (Seventh Day), a Sabbath-keeping body from the Millerite stream. Sacred Name groups kept the Sabbath, insisted on a Hebrew name for God, and some kept the feasts of Leviticus 23. Dunning says the Hebrew Roots movement "seems to have borrowed key beliefs" from it.

Armstrong begins the Worldwide Church of God

The IAMCS paper, a Messianic Jewish body's position paper, says Herbert W. Armstrong "began his Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in 1934." It says he was put out of the Church of God (Seventh Day) for teaching British Israelism, the belief that the peoples of Britain and America descend from the lost tribes, and that his followers "were urged to observe the Sabbath, the feasts, and the biblical dietary laws" as heirs of Israel's land.

Armstrong dies, and his church turns away from his teaching

The IAMCS paper says that after Armstrong's death in 1986 the Worldwide Church of God "repudiated all of Armstrong's teachings," including British Israelism and the Sabbath and the feasts. It reports that the church moved toward mainstream evangelical belief, and that many who had followed Armstrong then looked for new teachers.

A distinct movement forms

Dunning says that by the mid-1980s Hebrew Roots adherents "had coalesced into a distinct movement," and that it had borrowed from the Sacred Name movement, from sabbatarian groups "especially the Worldwide Church of God," from Messianic Judaism and from think tanks like the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research. Wikipedia adds that most early congregations were founded by people who had left Armstrong's church, and that some in the movement say their teaching is distinct from it.

The name is trademarked

Dean and Susan Wheelock trademarked the name "Hebrew Roots," Dunning reports. The Wheelocks' own teaching ministry, Hebrew Roots, began in the spring of 1996 (see below). Dunning says its magazine appeared by 1998.

"Messianic Israel" and the Two House teaching

The IAMCS paper says that after Armstrong's church gave up British Israelism, some teachers began to speak of "Messianic Israel," a name it credits to Batya Wootten, and that these teachers were also called "Ephraimites," or the "Two House" movement. It says "there can be no doubt of the direct historic link between the Two-house movement and Herbert W. Armstrong," and that this is "in spite of the best efforts of some Two-housers to deny it." It also says the Woottens and Marshall Koniuchowsky co-founded the Messianic Israel Alliance in about 1998. That is the critics' account. The Woottens answer that the alliance is "NOT a 'Two House' Organization": they reject the label and call their teaching "One House." Their announcement does not take up Armstrong, and Koniuchowsky wrote, "We do not need Herbert W. Armstrong" to tell believers where to look.

The Wheelocks begin Hebrew Roots

Hebrew Roots, "a teaching ministry dedicated to exploring the Hebraic roots of the Christian Faith," began in the spring of 1996 when Dean and Susan Wheelock set out to share with friends and relatives what they were learning. It teaches the Torah as instruction that believers should want to keep, and does not say Gentiles must keep it to be saved.

First Fruits of Zion teaches one law, then turns back

First Fruits of Zion (FFOZ), a Messianic Jewish teaching organization, says that "circa 2003–2009" it taught that Gentile disciples were "in exactly the same boat as Jewish believers when it comes to the Torah's mandates." It says it then saw that one-law teaching was "a not-so-subtle form of replacement theology" and publicly disavowed it. FFOZ is not a Hebrew Roots ministry by its own description. It is the clearest case of a teacher who moved out of the one-law position.

119 Ministries is established

119 Ministries is a non-profit teaching ministry in Missouri, "consisting of teachers, a few other paid staff," and volunteers. It publishes videos, articles and courses, a Fellowship Finder and a faith statement. It teaches that Gentile believers are to keep the Torah.

A Messianic Jewish body names the movement

The IAMCS Steering Committee publishes "One Law, Two Sticks," saying it is "increasingly concerned" about teachers "promoting the idea that all the world's believers in the Messiah - Jewish and Gentile alike - ought to be keeping the Torah, particularly the Shabbat, the feasts, and kosher diet." Messianic Judaism is not one voice either, but this paper shows a Jewish body drawing a line between itself and Hebrew Roots.

Dean Wheelock dies

Hebrew Roots marks the death of Dean Wheelock (1939-2022).

119 Ministries answers the questions about Gentiles and Paul

On July 7, 2023, 119 Ministries posted a teaching titled "Is the Torah for Gentiles, Too?" and on October 23, 2026, another on Colossians 2:16-17, answering Andrew Farley. Both are the ministry's published answers to the passages this chart takes up in Part 4. This chart reads the page descriptions of those videos, not the videos.

Dean and Susan Wheelock

The Wheelocks hold the trademark on the name and began Hebrew Roots in 1996. They write that believers are "not 'required' to 'keep' anything in order to 'earn' their salvation" and that "we, as Believers, should 'want' to keep His Torah." That is a recommendation, not a command.

Tom Bradford

Torah Class says Bradford "is recognized by the preponderance of the Hebrew Roots and Messianic movements as an elder statesman and a leading teacher of the Hebrew Bible." That is the ministry's description of him. He teaches the Bible verse by verse, and his congregation is Seed of Abraham Fellowship.

Michael Rood

The ministry calls Rood an "author, historian, teacher, broadcaster, and life-long student of the Bible" and "a most unique 'Biblical Chronologist.'" It says it is "a non-profit ministry dedicated to restoring the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith." This chart takes his views only from his ministry's own pages.

Angus and Batya Wootten

The Woottens led the Messianic Israel Alliance and wrote that the alliance is "NOT a 'Two House' Organization," while holding that the two houses of Israel "continue to exist - even in our day." Angus Wootten calls himself its "Founder and President"; the IAMCS paper names Koniuchowsky as a co-founder. The Messianic Jewish paper "The Ephraimite Error" calls the Woottens the teaching's primary spokespersons and says the alliance has no affiliation with the International Messianic Jewish Alliance. Its current status is not confirmed.

Herbert W. Armstrong

Armstrong is not a Hebrew Roots teacher, and none of the ministries above claims him. He belongs here because critics name him as a source of the movement's Two House and Sabbath-and-feast teaching, and Dunning lists the Worldwide Church of God among the groups the movement borrowed from. Treat that as the critics' account of the movement's roots.

D. Thomas Lancaster

Lancaster is a Messianic Jewish teacher, not a Hebrew Roots teacher. He is included because he describes the line between the two, and because FFOZ once taught what 119 Ministries and Rood teach now.

Where the sources disagree. The movement's own ministries seldom write their history, and the accounts above are mostly written by critics, Messianic Jewish and Christian. The IAMCS paper is a hard-edged position paper. It ties the Two House teaching to Armstrong's British Israelism; the Ephraimite paper makes the same comparison and calls the parallels to Anglo-Israelism "uncanny." The Ephraimite paper also notes that one Two House writer, Marshall Koniuchowsky, wrote that "We do not need Herbert W. Armstrong" to tell us where to look. The Messianic Israel Alliance says it is not a Two House organization and prefers "Messianic Israel" or "Redeemed Israel." Torah Class rejects the claim that Gentile believers are Ephraim, though it teaches that the tribes of Ephraim are returning to the land now. The reader should hold the critics' claim as the critics' claim.

The ministries quoted here hold the whole Bible true and binding, read in its Hebrew setting. 119 Ministries and A Rood Awakening! hold the Torah's commands still in force for every believer.

Every ministry quoted here says the Bible is true, and none puts a creed beside it. 119 Ministries says it studies "the sixty-six books contained in a standard Christian Bible" and tries to "weed out man-made traditions." Torah Class honors "both Testaments of the Bible as truth and infallible" and reads them in the Hebrew culture where they were written. A Rood Awakening!'s statement says the Bible, "in its original language," is infallible. These ministries differ from the churches they criticize on what the Bible's own commands require. 119 Ministries teaches that "Yahweh's instructions have not changed." Wilber, a Torah-observant writer who does not identify with the movement, reports that "some within the Hebrew Roots Movement question the legitimacy of the sixty-six-book canon" and add books such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees. The ministries quoted here do not say that.

We believe that the whole Bible is true, and that it is applicable to our lives today.

we also honor both Testaments of the Bible as truth and infallible

The Bible, in its original language, is infallible.

What the Torah Class and 119 Ministries texts say about Matthew 5. Torah Class answers the question whether the Law of Moses is still valid from Matthew 5:17-20: "that the Law remains alive, and that not the tiniest bit of it will be abolished until the Heavens and Earth pass away." 119 Ministries rests on Matthew 5:18 and 1 John 3:4 in its Faith Statement. Both are taken up in Part 4. Where FFOZ stands. First Fruits of Zion, a Messianic Jewish ministry, holds "The Bible (Tanach and New Testament) is authoritative teaching from God," and adds that the whole Bible must be read as Jewish literature.

Saved by grace through faith, not by the Law, with obedience to the Torah following. 119 Ministries commands baptism without stating its purpose, and an article on A Rood Awakening!'s site roots it in the mikveh, a purification.

All the ministries quoted here say salvation is by grace. 119 Ministries: "We are not saved by works, but by grace through our faith." Torah Class: the Law "is NOT for salvation and NEVER was for salvation." The Rood statement: "Salvation is by faith alone and not by works." They then say believers should keep the Torah as the fruit of that faith, and that is where they part from most churches. On baptism the sources are thin. 119 Ministries reads Matthew 28 as a two-part command: "Go to all nations and baptize new disciples," then teach them to obey. Its video "How to Be Saved" is described as showing why "repentance, faith, baptism, and obedience each have a place in God's plan of redemption," but the page does not say what baptism is for or how it is done. A teaching on A Rood Awakening!'s site says that immersing in a mikveh "lies at the root of what later became known as baptism," that the Hebrew use was "ritual purification," and that "mikveh is not an action." A Torah Class lesson on baptism could not be read for this chart, so its teaching is not stated here. First Fruits of Zion, which is Messianic Jewish, says "most Messianic Jewish teachers would agree that immersion need not be performed in any specific manner, or in fact performed at all, to obtain salvation."

We are not saved by works, but by grace through our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

1) Go to all nations and baptize new disciples.

The act of immersing oneself in a mikveh lies at the root of what later became known as baptism.

What is not stated. None of the Hebrew Roots ministries quoted here says that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, and none says it is not. Torah Class's teaching on baptism could not be read. 119 Ministries commands it without saying what it does. The mikveh article treats immersion as a purification, not a one-time act tied to a confession of faith: "while in many Christian traditions baptism is a one-time event connected to a confession of faith, the use of the mikveh in the Hebrew context is much broader." FFOZ describes it as a change of "legal status" and says Messianic Jewish immersions are not done "for the purpose of removing original sin." These are the teachers' words, taken one by one.

No weekly Supper is described. Passover is kept or remembered once a year, and the bread and cup are read as a memorial.

None of the ministries quoted here describes a weekly Lord's Supper. What they say about the meal comes through Passover. Torah Class's Tom Bradford teaches that "Biblically, the Law of Moses does not call for this ceremony that Jesus officiated on the opening hours of Passover," calls it "a strictly manmade tradition that the Galileans created and observed," and reads the bread and the cup as "meant symbolically as His disciples identifying with Christ's death." Torah Class keeps Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits "in lieu of Easter." A Rood Awakening! says "Yes, Passover has been fulfilled," puts the last meal "the evening before the Passover was sacrificed," and teaches "We do not keep Passover today; the Passover is a sacrifice," while saying Passover can still be celebrated. Whether these ministries break bread when they meet, how often, and who may take part is not stated on any page this chart read.

Biblically, the Law of Moses does not call for this ceremony that Jesus officiated on the opening hours of Passover.

were meant symbolically as His disciples identifying with Christ's death

Yes, Passover has been fulfilled.

What this means for the placement. The Lord's Supper is not forbidden by any of these teachers. But the only meal they speak of keeping is a yearly one: Torah Class says of Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits, "We celebrate those feasts in lieu of Easter." Bradford reads the meal Jesus kept as a Galilean custom the Law did not command, while taking the bread and cup as a memorial of his death. The frequency and access of the Supper at their gatherings are open gaps, and the placement rests on what is stated.

Independent home groups and ministries led by teachers. No plurality of elders is described, and some networks set terms for the groups that join them.

The movement has no structure above the group. Dunning describes "numerous independent groups." 119 Ministries describes itself as "teachers, a few other paid staff," and says it wants to be focused on "the truth of His Word, and not on any person or any organization." Torah Class is a ministry of Seed of Abraham Ministries with a companion congregation, and its About page calls its president, Tom Bradford, "an elder statesman" of the movement. A Rood Awakening!'s Aviv Fellowships page tells would-be leaders that "modern day churches, denominations, and clergy would require you to go through some sort of certification class," but that Yeshua looks for "a clean vessel and a willing and humble heart." It also says each fellowship in its network has been "screened and vetted," and asks for a main leader. No page read here speaks of elders in the plural, of laying on of hands, or of the qualifications in Titus 1.

119 Ministries desires to be only focused on the truth of His Word, and not on any person or any organization.

Although modern day churches, denominations, and clergy would require you to go through some sort of certification class or training seminar before starting a home group or planting a church, Yeshua made it clear that what he is looking for is a clean vessel and a willing and humble heart.

Today he is recognized by the preponderance of the Hebrew Roots and Messianic movements as an elder statesman and a leading teacher of the Hebrew Bible.

What the Aviv network asks. A fellowship that wants to join A Rood Awakening!'s network must have "a minimal 7 people excluding the leaders," must "meet a least two Shabbats a month and meet on the Feast Days," and the person applying "must be the main leader of the study/fellowship." The page then asks each new leader to decide the group's own "non-negotiables," giving as examples "Yeshua is Messiah, Saturday Sabbath Observance, Aviv Barley Calendar and Feast Day Observance." The group sets these, not the ministry. That is one ministry's network, not the movement.

Worship is shaped by the Sabbath and the feasts. Music and prayer are not described, and one ministry asks whether hands lifted in slow songs is what Scripture means.

The shape of worship in these ministries is the calendar: the seventh-day Sabbath and the feasts of Leviticus 23. Torah Class says the Sabbath "remains a holy day for all mankind to observe." The Aviv network asks groups to "meet a least two Shabbats a month and meet on the Feast Days." A Rood Awakening!'s Sabbath page says the only universal command is rest, and that the Torah does not command "lighting candles, reciting certain prayers, breaking bread, or drinking wine." Torah Class does not forbid meeting on Sunday: "That the bulk of the Church meets to worship on Sunday is a perfectly good thing for all Believers," though "meeting on Sundays is NOT Sabbath observance." 119 Ministries asks whether the slow songs and lifted hands many have been taught are what worship meant in Scripture. Which instruments, if any, these groups use, and how they pray, is not stated on the pages read.

Many of us have been taught that worship often involves slow songs of adoration, the lifting of our hands, and other such practices.

Your study/fellowship must meet a least two Shabbats a month and meet on the Feast Days.

meeting on Sundays is NOT Sabbath observance; and it should not be mistaken as such

A claim to weigh. Torah Class gives a reason for the Sabbath: "Sunday was designated as the 'Lord's Day' circa A.D. 350 by the Roman Church at the Synod of Laodicea." That is its own historical claim. This chart reports it and does not adopt it. The New Testament speaks of the first day of the week in Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2, long before any council.

The Spirit changes the heart so a believer can follow God's instructions. Whether miraculous gifts continue is not addressed.

119 Ministries teaches that God "empowers us to follow his instructions by changing our heart, and putting his spirit within us," and that "his spirit will guide us into all truth." That is Ezekiel 36:26-27 and John 16:13 put to the service of Torah keeping. The ministries quoted here say nothing about tongues, healing or prophecy today. First Fruits of Zion, for contrast, says the Spirit "is apportioned to his disciples to guide and empower them," and does not address gifts either. This chart does not say these ministries teach that gifts have ceased or that they continue. It says they do not address the question.

Yahweh empowers us to follow his instructions by changing our heart, and putting his spirit within us (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

His spirit will guide us into all truth (John 16:13).

The same Spirit that rested upon Moses, David, and the prophets also rested upon the Messiah without measure and is apportioned to his disciples to guide and empower them.

Yeshua returns, the faithful reign with him on earth for a thousand years, then all are raised and judged. Rood ties his return to the fall feasts.

119 Ministries teaches that those who have faith in Yeshua "will also be resurrected, and they will reign with him on the earth for a thousand years," and that afterward "all mankind will be resurrected and judged." It says those who followed his instructions will be rewarded and those who did not punished. A Rood Awakening!'s statement teaches that Yeshua's first coming fulfilled the spring feasts, and that "his return will fulfill the Fall Feasts of the LORD, namely The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)." Other ministries read here do not state a view on the order of the last things.

Those who have faith in him will also be resurrected, and they will reign with him on the earth for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6).

After Yeshua's reign on the earth, all mankind will be resurrected and judged (Revelation 20:11-13).

We believe that his return will fulfill the Fall Feasts of the LORD, namely The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).

The Torah for Gentiles

The central question, and the one the teachers answer differently: 119 Ministries and Michael Rood say yes, Torah Class is mixed, First Fruits of Zion says no for the ritual commands.

This is where the teachers divide, and the chart keeps their answers apart. 119 Ministries and A Rood Awakening! say the Torah binds Gentile believers. Torah Class is mixed: the Law is for believers "after they've been redeemed" and the Sabbath is for "all mankind," but "we do not advocate gentile Christians observing Judaism." The Wheelocks' Hebrew Roots puts it as what believers "should 'want'" to do, not a requirement (Gentiles and the Law, Vol. I, p. 2). First Fruits of Zion, a Messianic Jewish ministry, disclaims the ritual mandate: it teaches Jewish disciples to keep the Torah, but says "Commandments pertaining to Israel's ritual sanctities are not considered incumbent upon Gentile disciples." It once taught the other view, and says why it stopped. Messianic Jewish critics (the IAMCS paper) say "Hebrew Roots teachers are mainly Two-housers" and that "one law" belongs to the same family. Wilber, who identifies with Messianic Judaism, answers that "One Law theology is not uniquely associated with the Hebrew Roots Movement." A teacher's view is never the movement's.

We believe that we are to teach all nations to obey the Torah (Law of God).

There is one God-given law (more properly, "instruction" or Torah) for ALL peoples. There is no difference between believing Gentiles and believing Jews (Lev. 24:22, Num. 9:14) as to the instructions for how to live a righteous life.

We do not advocate gentile Christians observing Judaism.

Now therefore why make ye trial of God, that ye should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well.

So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

Where a teacher says Gentiles must keep the Sabbath, the feasts and the food laws to be faithful, Scripture is against it. The apostles and elders at Jerusalem settled this exact question under the Holy Spirit: "to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28), and years later they still described the Gentile rule that way (Acts 21:25). Paul tells the Galatians that those "who would be justified by the law" are "fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4). No condition of salvation is needed for the verdict: Paul says the man who takes up the Law's sign "is a debtor to do the whole law" (Galatians 5:3), so to bind its days and foods as duty is to lay the yoke the council refused. Credit goes to Torah Class and the Wheelocks for refusing to make it a condition of salvation or of fellowship, and to First Fruits of Zion for saying plainly that it was wrong and turning back. The ministries that say the Torah binds Gentiles stand against the apostles' decision.

The four texts the teachers lean on, answered.

Matthew 5:17-19. Jesus said "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil," and that nothing passes from the law "till all things be accomplished" (Matthew 5:17-18). 119 Ministries and Torah Class take this to mean the commands stand for believers today. The text turns on the word fulfil. Jesus said the law and the prophets spoke of him (Luke 24:44), and on the cross he said "It is finished" (John 19:30). When what the law pointed to was accomplished, the law's old order passed. The priesthood changed, and so the law: "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:12). The first covenant is "becoming old and waxeth aged" and "nigh unto vanishing away" (Hebrews 8:13), and Paul says believers were "made dead to the law through the body of Christ" so as to "serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:4-6). The ministries that read Matthew 5 this way do not themselves offer the sacrifices or keep the temple rules the same law requires. Rood says plainly that Passover cannot be kept as written without a temple. They already treat part of the law as fulfilled. The question is where the line falls, and Hebrews, Romans and Galatians put it at Christ. Jesus also spoke to Jews under the law before the cross. The church began after.

Romans 3:31. "Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law." Paul does not say here that Gentiles must keep the Sabbath and the feasts. In the verses just before he has said that "a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Romans 3:28), and that the righteousness of God is "witnessed by the law and the prophets" (Romans 3:21). Faith establishes the law by agreeing with what it witnesses to: that all have sinned, and that the righteous live by faith, as in Abraham in chapter 4. The same Paul writes "ye are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14), "Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:4), and "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike" (Romans 14:5). Romans 3:31 cannot mean what would make those verses false. What the church keeps is "the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2): "love therefore is the fulfilment of the law" (Romans 13:10).

1 John 3:4. "Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." 119 Ministries and Torah Class use this to define sin as breaking the Torah. The verse says sin is lawlessness, not that every command given to Israel is every believer's law. Paul says "where there is no law, neither is there transgression" (Romans 4:15). The Gentiles were never under Sinai, and Acts 15 shows what the apostles laid on them. John himself says what he means by Christ's commandment: "that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another" (1 John 3:23). The verse fits the teaching of the New Testament and does not require a Sabbath-and-feast code.

Isaiah 56:6-7. The prophet promises foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, "every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it," that he will bring them "to my holy mountain" and accept their sacrifices, "for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." Jesus quotes this verse in the temple (Mark 11:17). It is a promise that the nations will come in, and it was kept in Christ. The nations are "fellow-citizens with the saints" in a "holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:19-21), and offer "spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). At Jerusalem James read another prophet, Amos, and concluded from it that the Gentiles should not be troubled (Acts 15:14-19). The teachers who take Isaiah 56 literally do not offer the burnt offerings it names either. Its form was shadow, and Paul says so of the Sabbath and the feasts: "which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s" (Colossians 2:16-17). 119 Ministries answers this with a teaching that Paul may have been defending believers who already kept these days, and that is the ministry's reading, taken from its page description. Even on that reading, verse 17 calls the days a shadow, and verse 16 forbids anyone to judge a believer over them in either direction.

Acts 15 and the question of Moses read in the synagogues. Some teachers read Acts 15:21 ("For Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath") as the council's way of saying the Gentiles would learn the rest of the Law over time. The verse gives the reason the four abstentions matter, because Jewish neighbors hear Moses read every week. It does not add a further burden. The same Paul who taught in the synagogues wrote of himself, among Jews, "not being myself under the law" (1 Corinthians 9:20), and told the Galatians that to take up circumcision was to be "a debtor to do the whole law" (Galatians 5:3). Jewish believers who keep Jewish customs, as Paul did in Acts 21, are a different question from the one Acts 15 settled. First Fruits of Zion's position, that Gentiles are not required to keep the Torah, is the apostles' answer to that question. Its further teaching, that Jewish believers are bound to it, is weighed in the chart on Messianic Judaism. Paul kept customs freely, "not being myself under the law," and that freedom is not the same as a covenant duty.

The seventh-day Sabbath

Torah Class and A Rood Awakening! teach the Sabbath is for all mankind. A Rood Awakening! asks fellowships to meet on it.

Torah Class answers "Does Torah Class observe a Saturday Sabbath?" with yes: "Sabbath was originally ordained at Creation, and it remains a holy day for all mankind to observe." It also says "There is historically and biblically no such thing as a 'Sunday' Sabbath." A Rood Awakening!'s Sabbath page says "Shabbat is for everyone," since it "has been around since creation, even before the Torah was given at Mount Sinai," and says the only universal command is to suspend one's ordinary activity. Neither ministry says Sunday meeting is sin. Torah Class says it is "a perfectly good thing."

Sabbath was originally ordained at Creation, and it remains a holy day for all mankind to observe.

There is historically and biblically no such thing as a "Sunday" Sabbath.

Shabbat is for everyone.

Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again? Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.

There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.

The Sabbath was "a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever" (Exodus 31:16-17), a covenant sign given to Israel, and the Hebrew Roots teachers who read "perpetual covenant" in that passage as binding all believers must reckon with the new covenant that makes the first "nigh unto vanishing away" (Hebrews 8:13). It is among the things Paul calls "a shadow of the things to come" (Colossians 2:16-17). The New Testament never commands a Gentile church to keep it, and Paul rebukes the Galatians for observing "days, and months, and seasons, and years" (Galatians 4:10). The apostles' decision for the Gentiles did not include it (Acts 15:28-29). Hebrews says a rest remains for the people of God, but it describes that rest as entering what God entered, in Christ, having "rested from his works" (Hebrews 4:9-10). Torah Class and Rood are right that the New Testament gives no Sunday Sabbath, and the church's first-day meeting is not a transfer of the Sabbath. But it is a meeting the New Testament shows in Acts 20:7. Binding the seventh day on Gentiles as a duty is where the verdict falls. The same teachers who bind it do not call Sunday worship sin, and Torah Class says it is good.

The feasts and the biblical calendar

Torah Class keeps the seven feasts, and Passover and Firstfruits in place of Easter. A Rood Awakening! says they are fulfilled in Yeshua and asks its fellowships to meet on them.

Torah Class says the feasts "were not only ordained by God to be observed literally but were also prophetic of Messiah's ministry," keeps Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits "in lieu of Easter," and celebrates Jesus' birth at Hanukkah while saying "We know that He was not born on Hanukkah." A Rood Awakening!'s statement teaches "Yeshua's birth, death, resurrection, and second coming are the fulfillment of the Feasts of the LORD," and its fellowships must meet on the feast days. Its page for new leaders offers "Aviv Barley Calendar and Feast Day Observance" as examples of a group's "non-negotiables." Wilber reports that many in the movement set the feasts by their own calendars rather than the traditional Jewish one.

The 7 biblical feasts were not only ordained by God to be observed literally

Yeshua's birth, death, resurrection, and second coming are the fulfillment of the Feasts of the LORD.

Saturday Sabbath Observance, Aviv Barley Calendar and Feast Day Observance

Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.

The feasts are real Scripture, and a believer may read them for what they say of Christ. Paul himself tells the Corinthians to "keep the feast" in the sense that "our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). What Scripture does not do is bind them on Gentile Christians. Colossians 2:16-17 says to let no one judge a believer over a feast day, and Hebrews 10:1 calls the law "a shadow of the good things to come." Rood's own teaching that Passover "has been fulfilled" is the right reading. The verdict falls where a ministry makes these days a test of fellowship, or teaches its groups to make them "non-negotiables," because the apostles did not.

Setting aside Christmas and Easter

Torah Class calls them "borrowed pagan celebrations" and keeps other days. 119 Ministries asks whether keeping Christmas is a sin, and says it does not mean to cause condemnation.

Torah Class says "Christmas and Easter are undeniably manmade celebrations that began as borrowed pagan celebrations," and keeps other days instead. 119 Ministries' documentary "The Christmas Question" is described as helping "believers determine if celebrating Christmas is a sin," and the page adds that "The purpose behind this documentary is not intended to be something that causes division nor condemnation." These are their claims about origins. This chart reports them and does not decide the history.

Christmas and Easter are undeniably manmade celebrations that began as borrowed pagan celebrations

The purpose behind this documentary is not intended to be something that causes division nor condemnation.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men?

The New Testament commands neither day, and a church that binds either one on a believer goes past what is written. It equally goes past it to forbid them as sin. "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord," says Paul, and Colossians 2:16 says let no one judge a believer over a feast day or a sabbath. Both Torah Class and 119 Ministries say they do not mean to condemn, and that is as it should be. Credit is due for that. The verdict falls on any teaching that makes keeping or refusing a day a mark of faithfulness, because the apostles gave Gentiles no such list.

The Hebrew names of God and of Jesus

119 Ministries says "Yahweh" and "Yeshua" and admits other opinions are reasonable. Torah Class accepts "Jesus" and favors "Yeshua."

119 Ministries pronounces God's name "Yahweh" and says "There are other reasonable opinions about how to pronounce this name." It says Yeshua is "the Hebrew name that is transliterated into English as 'Jesus.'" Torah Class says "we acknowledge both names as valid and acceptable but favor 'Yeshua'" Some other groups require "Yeshua"; Wilber says some "contend that names and titles such as 'God,' 'Lord,' and 'Jesus' are pagan in origin." The ministries quoted here do not say that.

We pronounce this name "Yahweh." There are other reasonable opinions about how to pronounce this name, but we think "Yahweh" is the most likely ancient pronunciation.

In Torah Class, we acknowledge both names as valid and acceptable but favor

And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.

Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Using the Hebrew names is honest and may help a reader hear the Bible in its own setting. The New Testament was written in Greek, and the apostles wrote and spoke the Savior's name in it. Salvation is in the person: "in none other is there salvation" (Acts 4:12), and every tongue is to confess "that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:9-11). 119 Ministries and Torah Class do not make the form a test, and that is right. Any group that does require one pronunciation, a claim made of some groups in the movement but of neither ministry here, has laid on the church something the apostles never did.

Two House and Ephraim

Some teachers say Gentile believers are descended from the lost northern tribes. The Messianic Israel Alliance rejects the "Two House" label and calls its teaching "One House." Torah Class rejects the teaching while holding that Ephraim is returning to the land.

Two House teaching holds that the northern tribes, the house of Ephraim, were scattered among the nations and are now being gathered, and in many versions that Gentile believers are Ephraimites. The sources keep several things apart. The Messianic Israel Alliance's founders wrote that it "is NOT a 'Two House' Organization," yet wrote: "Yes, it is absolutely true that there were two houses, and to the extent that they have not entered into the New Covenant, those two houses continue to exist - even in our day." Torah Class says "We do NOT believe this as it is but a subtle form of Supersessionism (Replacement Theology)," but teaches that "Ephraim-Israel, will come to join" Judah and that "this process is currently underway with many of the tribes of Ephraim returning now to Israel." The Woottens call their teaching "One House," the reunion of Ephraim and Judah in Messiah, and prefer the names "Messianic Israel" or "Redeemed Israel." The Messianic Jewish paper "The Ephraimite Error" names the Woottens as the teaching's primary spokespersons and says its proponents hold that born-again Christians are "actual blood descendants" of the northern tribes. Critics trace the teaching, as Part 2 says, to Armstrong's British Israelism. Dunning writes that "the primary problem with the Two House movement is the latent British Israelism." That is the critics' account, and the Woottens' announcement does not answer it.

The Messianic Israel Alliance is NOT a "Two House" Organization!

Yes, it is absolutely true that there were two houses, and to the extent that they have not entered into the New Covenant, those two houses continue to exist - even in our day.

We do NOT believe this as it is but a subtle form of Supersessionism (Replacement Theology).

The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: and join them for thee one to another into one stick, that they may become one in thy hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand.

Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.

The prophets did promise the reunion of Judah and Ephraim (Ezekiel 37), and Torah Class and the Messianic Israel Alliance are right to say so, though Ezekiel's next verses place it under one king, "my servant David" (Ezekiel 37:22-24), which the New Testament fulfills in Christ, not in a lineage. The New Testament does not say that Gentile believers are lost Ephraimites. It says they were "alienated from the commonwealth of Israel" and are "made nigh in the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:11-13), that Christ made "of the two one new man" (Ephesians 2:15), and that "if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed" (Galatians 3:29). No blood line is needed or taught. Where a teacher builds a Gentile believer's standing on a lost-tribe ancestry, the teaching rests on a genealogy Scripture does not supply and makes the believer's place depend on descent and not on Christ. Torah Class rejects that form, and that is to its credit. The Alliance rejects the label, but the critics name its founders as the teaching's chief spokespersons, and its announcement does not disown the ancestry claim.

These teachers are earnest readers of the Bible, and several of them bring believers back to the Old Testament, which the church too often neglects. This part takes their strongest texts head-on. The main answer is under "The Torah for Gentiles" below: Matthew 5:17-19, Romans 3:31, 1 John 3:4 and Isaiah 56:6-7, answered from Acts 15, Galatians 3-5, Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 8:13 and Romans 7:4-6. Each verdict names the teacher it falls on. No verdict falls on "the movement," because it has no single teaching.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Yea, I testify again to every man that receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.

The ministries quoted here take the Bible as their rule and set no creed beside it, which is what the New Testament teaches (2 Timothy 3:16-17). But 119 Ministries and A Rood Awakening! teach that the Torah binds Gentile believers, and Torah Class binds the Sabbath on "all mankind." That is a teaching the apostles did not merely leave unsaid: they ruled on this very question and laid "no greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28-29), and Paul says that to take up the Law's sign is to be "a debtor to do the whole law" (Galatians 5:3). The rounded mean of the three measures gives the middle step, and this chart moves it one step out because the teaching bound runs against an explicit apostolic ruling. That puts these ministries where the Sabbath-and-holy-day churches of the Armstrong tradition stand.

How the placement is set. It is authored because the movement has no lineage body. The Bible as the rule, with no binding creed, is near the line. What is bound where Scripture is silent, and teaching bound that the New Testament does not teach, are both far from it. Some groups in the movement also add books outside the canon, though the ministries quoted here do not, and that is not counted. A fair note. Torah Class and 119 Ministries both say they test everything by Scripture, and 119 Ministries adds "We welcome criticism that is provided in this same spirit of seeking truth." They are right to ask for that. The difference is what the Scripture says on the point, and the answer is under "The Torah for Gentiles."

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.

yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

The ministries quoted here are right that salvation is by grace through faith, "not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9), and 119 Ministries rightly treats baptism as part of the commission. But this placement rests on very little: one 119 Ministries article that commands baptism, one video description, and one article by a single writer on A Rood Awakening!'s site, and none of them says what baptism is for. The New Testament does: "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), a burial and rising with Christ (Colossians 2:12). Rood's statement that salvation is "by faith alone," and an article that roots immersion in a ritual purification, do not reach Acts 2:38, and so the placement is one step off the line and not on it.

How the placement is set. Disciples are the ones baptized, and immersion is the only mode named, which is near the line. The purpose is unstated by 119 Ministries and, on A Rood Awakening!'s site, treated as purification, which is a step further. Torah Class's teaching could not be read, and First Fruits of Zion is Messianic Jewish and is not counted. The placement could move either way once these ministries state what baptism is for.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The Lord's Supper is on the first day of the week, as in Acts 20:7, and it is a memorial that proclaims "the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). None of these ministries describes a weekly Supper. The only meal they speak of is the yearly Passover, and a yearly remembrance is not the weekly breaking of bread the apostles kept. Torah Class is right that the bread and cup are a memorial of Christ's death, and that holds the placement nearer the line than the frequency alone would.

Honest limits. The yearly memorial is reported for "most congregations" by Wikipedia, a last resort, and no named ministry states its own frequency or who may take part. Rood teaches Passover is fulfilled, and Bradford reads the meal Jesus kept as a Galilean custom while taking the bread and cup as a memorial. The placement could move if a ministry states its practice.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.

The apostles appointed "elders in every church" (Acts 14:23) and elders were to hold "to the faithful word which is according to the teaching" (Titus 1:9). These groups are independent, which is near the line, and Rood is right that no certificate makes a leader. But no page read here speaks of a plurality of elders, and the home-group model puts a single main leader over each fellowship, where the apostles set elders, plural, in every church. No office in these ministries claims to bind doctrine of its own: the teachers argue from Scripture, and the Aviv "non-negotiables" are left for each group to decide. So the placement is not moved, and it rests on a thin record.

How the placement is set. Independent groups in voluntary networks are near the line. A single main leader, with no eldership described, is a step out. Teachers with no priestly claim or clergy title are near the line. The Aviv network's terms for listing a group (its size, its Sabbath and feast-day meetings, a main leader) are conditions of a ministry's directory, not an office binding new doctrine, so the rule for leaders who bind their own doctrine does not apply. The binding of the Sabbath and the feasts is weighed under authority.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The meeting the apostles knew was held on the first day, with the Supper, singing and prayer (Acts 20:7; Ephesians 5:19). These ministries shape the assembly around the Sabbath and the feast days, and the Aviv network requires its groups to meet on them. Those days are "a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s" (Colossians 2:16-17), and feast-day observances kept as set forms of the assembly are added to what the apostles gave the church. Music and prayer are not stated on the pages read, so the placement rests on the added observances alone. The binding of the days themselves is weighed under authority and in the distinctives, so it is not charged twice here.

Credit. 119 Ministries asks whether worship meant what many have been taught, and Torah Class does not forbid Sunday worship. Both are to their credit. The open items are music and prayer.

But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may not do the things that ye would. But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

This only would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

The Spirit does change the heart (Ezekiel 36:26-27), and Paul says those "led by the Spirit" are sons of God (Romans 8:14). The placement is off the line because 119 Ministries ties the Spirit's work to keeping the Torah's instructions, while Paul says "if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18). Gifts are not addressed in the sources, so no position is graded on them.

The Spirit's work is stated in the sources only for obedience. Whether miraculous gifts are held to continue is not stated, and nothing is scored for it.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

Christ will return, the dead will be raised, and all will be judged: 119 Ministries says so, and so does Scripture (John 5:28-29). A thousand-year reign comes from a plain reading of Revelation 20:4-6, which believers hold in more than one way, and it is not a mark against a teacher. The placement is near the line because the core is right. Rood's reading of the fall feasts as the plan of Christ's return goes past what is written, so the placement is not on the line.

The placement stays near the line for 119 Ministries' statement, which is the fullest. Other ministries read here do not state a view.

The ministries quoted here hold that Scripture is true, that Jesus is the Messiah, that he died and rose, and that salvation is by grace and not by works. They love the Old Testament, a love the church often lacks, and they read the Gospels as a Jewish story. Torah Class teaches that Gentiles need not become Jews. First Fruits of Zion has said openly that it turned back from one-law teaching, and why. 119 Ministries asks to be corrected, and says "We welcome criticism that is provided in this same spirit of seeking truth." Most of them say they keep the Sabbath and the feasts out of love for God, not to earn his favor. And they remind the church that Jesus was a Jew, which it should never forget.

The question in all of these is the one Acts 15 faced: what may be laid on Gentile believers? The answer in Scripture is "no greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28).

Where a teacher says the Torah is for Gentiles too, as 119 Ministries and Michael Rood do, Scripture stands against that teaching, firmly and without ill will. Where a teacher, like Torah Class and the Wheelocks, invites without binding, Scripture agrees with the part that is true: the Old Testament is God's word and Christ is its end. Where First Fruits of Zion says Gentiles are not required, it is where the apostles were on that question, though what Christ fulfilled binds the Jewish believer no more than the Gentile. The point of every verdict here is to return to Christ and the apostles' word alone, without a calendar, a name or a pedigree laid beside it.

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